Embattled Morsi calls out his backers

[WestVirginiaRebel]

UK Independent:

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has called for a mass demonstration in Cairo this week to show support for the embattled President, Mohamed Morsi, who is facing widespread protests over his controversial decree granting him extensive new powers.

In a statement published on its website, the Brotherhood also called for demonstrations in public squares across the country after early evening prayers today.

The latest blow to Mr Morsi came yesterday when the Supreme Judicial Council, Egypt's highest body of judges, called the move by the President to grant himself near-absolute power an "unprecedented assault" on the judiciary.

Through their statement, the judges joined a growing list of leaders and activists from Egypt's political factions, including some Islamists, who have denounced the decree Mr Morsi says is necessary to "protect the revolution". The council's move reflects the anger within the judiciary.

Mr Morsi has accused pro-Mubarak elements in the judiciary, many of whom were appointed by the former president, of blocking political progress. In the past year, courts have dissolved the lower house of parliament as well as the first panel drafting the constitution, both led by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The council's stand against the President sets the ground for an uneasy alliance between former regime officials and activist groups that helped to topple Mubarak's regime and have in the past derided those officials as "felool", or remnants.

The Presidents' opponents see the judiciary as the only civilian branch of government with a degree of independence, as Mr Morsi holds both executive power and legislative authority.

The judges released their statement following an emergency meeting yesterday. They described Mr Morsi's decree as an "unprecedented assault on the judiciary and its rulings" and called on the President to "distance himself from the declaration and all things that touch judicial authority, its specifications or interference in its members or its rulings."

________

 

The Brotherhood versus the people...

[pollyannaish]

Hey look! There is tension in the Middle East.

 

I find that part of the world tiresome. If life was a TV show, the Arab world would be Jerry Springer.

 

Hatred is exhausting.

[Casino67]

If interested, here is a Reuters live stream from Tahrir Sq. Doesn't seem all that well populated so far. Not like it was for Mubarak.

 

http://reuters.livestation.com/demo

[Rokke]

Looks like the Occupy Wall Streeters finally found a new place to set up camp.

[Valin]

Egypt ousted prosecutor general unravels Brotherhood ‘secrets’

Mustafa Suleiman

AL ARABIYA

 

In a highly controversial statement that followed his ouster at the hands of President Mohammed Mursi, former Egyptian Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud opened fire on the Muslim Brotherhood and unveiled long-hidden information he claimed to have known about the group throughout his career.

 

“Since I had started working as deputy prosecutor general, I noticed that members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s small cells were always the target of arrests while this was not the case with the group’s senior leaders,” Mahmoud said Saturday in a speech he delivered at the Cairo Judges Club where more than 10,000 judges met to condemn a new constitutional declaration issued by Mursi that undermines the independence of the judiciary.

 

In reference to the collaboration between the Muslim Brotherhood and the former regime, Mahmoud called upon the new prosecutor general, appointed by Mursi, to present a detailed account of all the cases against the Muslim Brotherhood stating which of them actually reached court and which were shelved.

 

“Brotherhood leaders know more than I do why many of them where not formally indicted,” he said.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Islamist protest shuts down Egypt's top court

Tamim Elyan and Tom Perry

CAIRO | Sun Dec 2, 2012

 

(Reuters) - Protests by Islamists allied to President Mohamed Mursi forced Egypt's highest court to adjourn its work indefinitely on Sunday, intensifying a conflict between some of the country's top judges and the head of state.

 

The Supreme Constitutional Court said it would not convene until its judges could operate without "psychological and material pressure", saying protesters had stopped the judges from reaching the building.

 

Several hundred Mursi supporters had protested outside the court through the night ahead of a session expected to examine the legality of parliament's upper house and the assembly that drafted a new constitution, both of them Islamist-controlled.

 

(Snip)